21,420 skilled credentials were issued by NIMS in the United States in 2015, up 20% over 2104 performance.

Those credentials mirror the rise in people gaining or improving their employment. How was your 2015?

“The need for skilled machinists, CNC programmers and operators, and industrial technology maintenance technicians is critical and is expected to grow between 19-24% over the next decade,” said Greg Chambers, Director of Compliance, Oberg Industries, Inc. and Chairman of the Board, NIMS. “NIMS credentials ensure that companies, workers, and students keep up with industry standards and job requirements and that training programs prepare individuals with the skills they need to enter and advance in these in-demand jobs.”

NIMS has developed skills standards ranging from entry-level to master-level that cover the breadth of metalworking operations and industrial technology maintenance. NIMS certifies individuals’ skills against these national standards via credentials that companies can use to recruit, hire, place, and promote individual workers. Schools and employer training programs incorporate the credentials as performance and completion measures to deliver high quality training to industry standards. NIMS will soon add credentials in Industrial Technology Maintenance and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) to its portfolio of offerings in 2016-2017.